We were all seared by 9-11. Some people of good will went off the rails, abandoning all decency in face of what they saw as an unwarranted attack. The one question that was foremost on everyone's mind was "why?" If total stranger walked up to you on the street and slapped you, you first reaction would be "why?"
There where plenty of people who knew why, and said so: Osama bin Laden, the CIA, countless reporters and writers, and later the 9-11 commissions. But at the time of the attack, we were overwhelmed with "they hate our freedom..." as the reason. (Of course, they attacked us because we, or specifically the Hamiltonians among us, hate their freedom, their freedom of self-determination.)
What appeared to be a senseless and unwarranted, horrible, cruel and pointless attack to very many people was given an equally disturbing rationale: they hate our freedom. That segment of society that is of good will, willing to risk their lives to pony up and ride off to right wrongs, left their workbenches and got a gun. It was time to sort out the bad guys, the bad guys went too far. No time to consider Moslem sensibilities regarding US soldiers backing Wahabi vs Sunni in Islamic Holy Lands. Kill 'em all and let God sort out the innocent.
Of course, countless opportunists mixed in the crowd, knowing that money would flow, and avoiding actual danger is quite easy. Who cares other people's pensions are being spread over the middle east, there is money to be made, just like in any other war.
No one has the whole picture. Before acting, or letting hotheads ride off with a rope and a villain, cooler heads are supposed to prevail. After 9-11, two things should have happened.
1. Reflect on the rationale. There should have been a thorough explication of why, then a debate on the response. Instead, after being attacked by Saudi Arabians, financed by the Saudis, we invade a country (Iraq) at odds with Saudi Arabia. The madness did not stop. We invaded Afghanistan, and we are stalemated there. The media that gets distributed was pro-war, anti-reflection. We are still in those wars.
2. Law, labor, academia, religion and other groups in the commanding heights ought to have weighed in with alternatives to war, if after discussion the decision was to pursue those responsible, the Saudi Arabians. Too late. Those in the commanding heights are all bought and paid for. The one entity with the moral authority to call for alternatives, the Roman Catholic church, was blindsided by false sex abuse charges in the run-up to the invasion, so widespread that the Church was hobbled defending itself. (Just before the charges broke, Bill Clinton and a biz associate formed a company that used HUD funds to convert Church property to groovy condos... buy church property forced into sale by abuse settlements, and buy low with HUD capital, sell high, taxpayer capital. It too ended in scandal.)
Bill Clinton expressed regret 9-11 did not happen on his watch. A strange regret, unless you realize the power to be arrogated when we are attacked. The people who should be doing the decent thing have left the stage to those who want to exploit the situation. Hawalas had nothing to do with 9-11, but the government ruined many businesses. Our intervention in Afghanistan, attacking a country that never presented a threat to us, has interrupted 3500 year old palliative care business. Decent voices go unheard, or unused.
Instead we have hyper-"security:" suspension of habeas corpus, torture, airport groping, total information awareness about your every transaction. Nazi Germany had such security features. Such security did not save even nazi Germany. What makes anyone think it will save USA?
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